The Gardeners' Apprentice Every spring I fall in love with my garden. This happens on schedule, even if the clean-up chores aren’t finished, chickweed is engulfing the beds and the weed whacker won’t start. When I look out at the clumps of daffodils, all is right with the world. Spring is also the time of plant sales … Read more
DOUBLE GERANIUMS In my garden this will be the Year of the Fluffy Flower. Ever since the first mail order catalogs arrived last December I have been mesmerized by the pictures of double-flowered varieties of hellebores, daylilies, primroses and Shasta daisies. My usual love of simplicity has gone south in favor of the pursuit of … Read more
ENGLISH IVY–FOR BETTER OR WORSE I am blessed and cursed with English Ivy, Hedera helix. Everyone knows what it looks like–a vining plant with dark green, glossy, three-lobed leaves. It can creep and climb, and is perfectly capable of reaching a height of over thirty feet. When the plants mature, they can develop trunks … Read more
HALO HYDRANGEAS Every once in awhile a new plant or group of plants comes along that seems to embody all of the prevailing horticultural trends. It happened in 2006, when Hines Horticulture, one of America’s biggest wholesale plant growers, introduced its Halo Hydrangeasâ„¢. This spring these archetypal twenty-first century plants will be widely available … Read more
MORE SNOWDROPS Last year at about this time, I indulged my passion for an obscure snowdrop and ordered a small expensive specimen from an equally small catalog. Last night I did it again, only this time I ordered several plants. I can see this becoming an annual ritual, and I am mindful of the … Read more
